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Diana movie slated by UK critics

CRITICS in the UK have slated the new movie Diana, starring Naomi Watts as The Princess of Wales.

The film, which focuses on the final years of Diana’s life, stars Naomi Watts in the lead role and Lost‘s Naveen Andrews as heart surgeon Hasnat Khan, with whom she had a two-year affair.

But while the film’s producers describe the film as “insightful” and “compassionate”, many felt it was “atrocious” and “scraping the barrel”.

The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw was among the most damning, writing: “I hesitate to use the term ‘car crash drama but the awful truth is that, 16 years after that terrible day in 1997, she has died another awful death.”

He adds: “This is due to an excruciatingly well-intentioned, reverential and sentimental biopic about her troubled final years, laced with bizarre cardboard dialogue – a tabloid fantasy of how famous and important people speak in private.”

He also criticised Watts’ portrayal as “an elaborate impression” and felt it made her “look like she’s in a two-hour Spitting Image sketch, scripted by Jeffrey Archer”.

Damning, too, was The Mirror’s David Edwards, who said that Watts “looks, acts and sounds nothing like the Princess of Wales”, adding: “Wesley Snipes in a blonde wig would be more convincing.”

Kate Muir, of The Times, took aim at the film’s script, describing it as “squirmingly embarrassing”.

While Chris Tookey, of The Daily Mail, awarded it only a one-star review and said it was “terribly, terribly dull”.

“The movie is not as tacky or sensationalist as one might fear,” he writes before concluding: “The bottom of the royal barrel has been scraped once too often”.

Only The Daily Express really found anything positive to say, calling the film “a must see this autumn [which] will leave the audience in tears”.